| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| span2 |
| |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  sp n |
| TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: spanned, span·ning, spans
To bind or fetter. | | NOUN: | 1. Nautical A stretch of rope made fast at either end. 2. A pair of animals, such as oxen, matched in size, strength, or color and driven as a team. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Dutch spannen, to harness, from Middle Dutch. See (s)pen- in Appendix I.
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
